[mdyer909]

I’m on vacation this week, looking at 10 cords of firewood I’ve got to stack, a garden full of weeds, and a pothole in the driveway but I’d rather make beer!  I did make a Hefeweizen yesterday.  Thank heavens for rain. 

I got a 50 lb bag of local Pilsen malt, 5 lbs of wheat malt, a pound of flaked maize and a pound of black kilned malt and some Crystal and Nugget hop pellets.  Also a packet of Notty, safale 05, and safale 04, and a pouch of D-90 candi syrup. 

My “local” home brew store is 2.5 hours away. 

I really like SA Old Fezziwig, and St. Bernardus Christmas Ale.  Any ideas of what to make?  Is it too early to brew a warmer?  I use a cooler mash tun, no real temperature control fermenting, 5 gallon batches.

Thanks!

[spurviance]

You've got the Pilsen malt and the candi syrup so you're well on your way to a Belgian Strong Ale.  Definitely not to early to brew as it will improve with conditioning over the next few months.

[kramerog]

You probably need some crystal malt for a UK style winter warmer.

[BrewBama]

I like to brew a 2x Bock for a Winter Warmer. This year’s version will use Amarillo and Mandarina Bavaria.

Around Christmas I’ll steep cinnamon and ginger in Grand Marnier to add as desired and optionally serve with an orange wedge.


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[erockrph]

If it were me, I'd do something in the 1.060 ballpark using the Pilsen, flaked maize, black malt for color (maybe 24 SRMish), S-04, maybe 35 IBU of Nugget at 60 minutes. Then I'd add some combo of cinnamon, vanilla and/or ginger for a few days before packaging. Nutmeg can work too, but I find that it's really easy to overdo it so I stay away.

Personally, I'd like to use about 5% crystal in the 60-80 SRM range, but if you're sticking to what you have on hand you can use the D-90 (although I'd probably skip the maize then, as the D-90 will lighten the body). It won't be exactly the same, but it will be plenty good.